The Non Day Off
by Jade II
Summary: Michelle has the day off, Tony has to work. Pure fluff ensues.


**Author's Note**: Just realized I hadn't posted this one here yet! Oops :)

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Michelle groaned sleepily and rolled over in bed to snuggle up against her husband. 

Except he didn't seem to be there. 

With her eyes still closed, she reached out to pat the space next to her to make sure he hadn't just shifted right to the edge of the bed in his sleep. He hadn't; he was indeed not there, but there was a sheet of paper on his pillow. 

She opened her eyes and squinted at what turned out to be a note from her sadly absent husband. It took longer than she would have liked before she finally managed to focus on it enough to read it, but when she did she found that it said: 

_Michelle,_

_I've been called in to work. Probably won't be back until late. Looks like our plans to have a whole day of alone time have been foiled yet again. Really sorry._

_Love & kisses (and other stuff we wanted to do today...)_

_Tony_

Michelle squeezed her eyes shut again and sighed. Things like this always happened to them when they both had time off at the same time. It wasn't fair. Sometimes she fantasized about them both quitting their jobs and going to work at Burger King instead just so they could have regular hours, but she knew that she didn't really want to serve fast food all day and besides, they would probably fire her when they discovered her inability to keep food un-burned for more than a few minutes when faced with any kind of cooking device. 

She rearranged the covers and tried to get back to sleep seeing as Tony wasn't around, but after tossing and turning for twenty minutes she mentally declared this effort a failure and decided to get up. 

When Michelle got downstairs she found a bowl, spoon and box of cornflakes already laid out on the table for her. Stuck to the side of the box was another note from Tony. 

_I know what you're like in the kitchen so I thought I would help out. Milk is in the refrigerator (that would be the big, metal thing with all the magnets on it.)_

Michelle smiled and unstuck the note for safekeeping. She poured cereal and milk into the bowl and sat down, idly wondering what to do that day now that Tony wasn't going to be there with her. Making a quick mental calculation of their current money situation, she regretfully had to conclude that now was not the best time for an all-day shopping trip. Visiting Danny wasn't an option because he was away on vacation. 

There were three things she usually did on her days off without Tony, and those were two of them. 

The other was cleaning the house. 

Michelle grimaced. 

However, a quick glance at the living room confirmed that it could indeed do with being cleaned. The hallway needed vacuuming as well, because _someone_ had been playing soccer with his brother and had neglected to wipe his feet properly afterwards. 

Probably because she had been kissing him for the whole ten seconds he had spent in the hallway, she had to admit. 

So she vacuumed the entire first floor, put the DVDs that were stacked up next to the player back on the shelf, straightened out the couch and generally tidied the living room. She was about to go out and get a sandwich and possibly a chocolate muffin for lunch when the phone rang. 

"Hello?" she answered. 

"Hey," Tony's voice greeted her. "How's the cleaning going?" 

"How did you know I was cleaning?" she asked playfully, secretly pleased that he knew her so well. 

"You have the day off, you're at home, I'm not there... it's the only logical conclusion." 

"Hey, I might be watching TV in my underwear for all you know." 

"Ooh... are you?" She could hear the grin in his voice. 

She laughed. "No, I'm afraid not. I was actually about to go out and buy some lunch." 

"Yeah, I'm on my five-minute lunch break. I ordered pizza but it hasn't arrived yet." 

"Is everything okay over there, or should I expect my lunch to be interrupted by an urgent call?" 

"Nah, it's mainly just a bunch of urgent paperwork that arrived early. Really boring. I tried to get out of it, but it wasn't possible. Sorry." 

"That's okay. At least I'm getting stuff done instead of lying in bed all day." 

Tony gasped in mock hurt. "Are you implying that there's something wrong with lying in bed all day?" 

"Not if you're there with me..." 

"Aw, now I really wish I didn't have to work... oh, the pizza's here. I've gotta go stuff my face." 

Michelle laughed again. "Okay. What time do you think you'll be home?" 

"I dunno... around ten?" 

"Alright, see you then." 

"See ya... and when I get back I expect to find you watching TV in your underwear." 

"Yeah, well, we'll see. Love you." 

"I love you. Bye." He hung up. 

Michelle stood there for a moment, smiling fondly, before leaving the house and heading off to find lunch. 

She couldn't find a chocolate muffin in the store, but they had her favorite kind of sandwich, so she took that and a smoothie and stood in line to pay. When she looked in her purse she found yet another note from Tony, wrapped around a twenty dollar bill. 

_Buy yourself some of those terribly expensive Swiss chocolates you like so much, as an apology for my absence. Just make sure to save one for me!_

This made her grin so much that the lady next to her commented on it. 

"Having a good day?" the lady asked. 

"Much better than I thought it would be, actually," Michelle replied, still unable to keep the smile off her face. "Thank you." 

She bought the chocolates and the sandwich and the smoothie, returned home and ate in front of the TV, though not in her underwear, as Tony would have undoubtedly been disappointed to discover. She spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry, tidying the bedroom and cleaning the bathroom. She ended up in front of the TV again (still not in her underwear; Tony would be shaking his head in despair by now), trying to find something, anything to watch while she waited for Tony to get back. 

At 10:30 she decided not to sit there waiting any longer and to order pizza, since she was getting hungry and there was still no sign of him. 

The doorbell rang two seconds after she had put the phone down. She shook her head in confusion and went to look through the peephole. 

It was Tony. 

Michelle laughed as she opened the door and looked at him questioningly. 

He leaned against the doorframe and she noticed that he was holding a bottle of wine. "Anyone order a quiet evening in?" he asked innocently. 

"Sounds perfect." She kissed him lightly on the lips before pulling him inside. "You do know that you have a key, right? That you do in fact own half the house?" 

"Yeah." He shrugged. "I just missed doing that," he said as he crossed into the living room. "Watching TV, good... looks like we'll have to work on the 'underwear' part." He went into the kitchen to open the bottle and find some glasses. "So, did you get my notes?" he asked, pouring the wine. 

"Yep." Michelle grinned. "All three of them. You're so cute." 

"Only three? Ah, so you didn't find the hidden one..." 

"There's a fourth note?" 

"Here, let me show you..." He picked her up and sat her on top of the counter in front of him. Then he removed her left sock. 

"You left me a note in my sock?" Michelle asked, getting more bewildered by the second. 

"Not quite..." He took her bare foot in his hands and kissed the sole of it before gently turning it around so she could see the bottom of it. 

_Love you_, was written there. 

She laughed in disbelief. "You wrote on my foot?" 

Tony nodded proudly. "And without waking you up! Although you are a disturbingly deep sleeper, as I discovered the _first_ time my cellphone rang in the middle of the night and you didn't so much as wince." 

"So..." said Michelle, trailing a finger down the front of his shirt. "Do I get to write on you?" She grinned. 

"That," said Tony, running his hands down her thighs, "depends entirely on what you plan to write." 

"Hmm. I'll have to think about that while we rectify the whole 'underwear' situation." She began to unfasten his belt. 

Tony grinned and kissed her. "Fine by me." 

He took her hand and they disappeared up the stairs. 

The still-blaring TV was left forgotten. 

**The End**   



End file.
